Architectural Phases of Ali Abad Tape, Northwestern Iran · 2020. 4. 1. · excavation. Various objects had been revealed including potsherds, animal bones, lithic tools, animal figurines

International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR) ISSN (Online): 2319-7064

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Volume 4 Issue 7, July 2015

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Architectural Phases of Ali Abad Tape,

Northwestern Iran

Nader Faraji1, M.P. Mahadevaiah

2

1 Ph.D. Student in Ancient History and Archaeology Department, University of Mysore, Mysore, India

2 Retired Professor in Ancient History and Archaeology Department, University of Mysore, Mysore, India

Abstract: Ali Abad Tape is located in the northern part of Bukan city, north-west of Iran. A stratigraphic excavation has been done at this site recently and different objects such as pottery, animal bones, lithic tools, animal figurines and etc. have been revealed during the

excavation. In addition to, nine architectural phases in various layers brought to light at the prehistoric site of Ali Abad. Stone and mud-

brick as well as clay mortar have been used for construction of buildings.

Keywords: Ali Abad, Architectural Phases, Bronze Age, Northwestern Iran

1. Introduction

Ali Abad Tape was identified accidently after revealing some

potsherd while digging wells by residents of this area. Based

on these potsherds and its situation that located under the

current building construction and urban planning, the

stratigraphic excavation permit was issued by Iranian Center

for Archaeological Research (ICAR). The excavation was

conducted along a limit space. Then a trench opened

vertically. In addition, the context record method was

selected for excavation and object registering. Cultural

deposits of about twelve meters were uncovered during this

excavation. Various objects had been revealed including

potsherds, animal bones, lithic tools, animal figurines and

etc.

Nine architectural phases had been uncovered during the

stratigraphic excavation at the prehistoric site of Ali Abad.

These phases were located in different contexts and at

various depths. Every context was registered separately and

given a register number. Architectural phases appeared in the

contexts 1003, 1004, 1009, 1012, 1013, 1031, 1034, 1042,

1044, 1054, 1062 and 1068. The present paper describes

these uncovered phases of architecture of Ali Abad.

2. Geographical Location

The prehistoric site of Ali Abad is located between 36° 32'

50.3196'' North latitudes and 46° 12' 33.2496'' East

longitudes of geographical coordinates in the northern part of

Bukan city, south of Western Azerbaijan Province,

northwestern Iran (Figure 1). Ali Abad covers an area of

more than 3 hectares. The site is placed at a height of about

13 meters above the surrounding plain. The study area is

situated in the vicinity of Simineh River and at about 1363

meters above sea level. This river with its length of 200 km

(Nemati, Naghipour, & Fard, 2014) originates from

ChehelCheshmeh Mountains in the Kurdistan Province and

flows into Lake Urmia. The area geographically is

mountainous with cold temperature in the winter season and

hot in summer. Northwestern Iran is described as semiarid

with its average annual rainfall of about 210 mm (Pazand &

Hezarkhani, 2012).

Figure 1: Map of Iran and Location of Northwest of Iran,

Bukan city and Ali Abad

Northwestern Iran consists of the three present provinces of

West Azerbaijan, East Azerbaijan and Ardabil. This region

of Iran extends for about 100,000 sq. km. There is enough

rainfall for doing rain-based agriculture in this area

(Geoffrey D. Summers, 2013; Swiny, 1975). The most

natural phenomenon of North-West of Iran is the Lake

Urmia. Most of the rivers of this region flow into this lake

namely: 1) Zarrine-River, 2) Barandouz River, 3) Simineh

River, 4) Mahabad River, 5) Gadar River, 6) AjiChay River

and 7) Nazlou River (shahmirzadi, 1999, pp. 77-92; Swiny,

1975). Lake Urmia is the largest saline lake in the Middle

East which is located between West and East Azerbaijan in

the northwestern Iran. It is the 20th largest lake and the

second most saline lake in the world (Delju, Ceylan, Piguet,

& Rebetez, 2013).

3. History of Archaeological Investigation in the Study Area

Archaeological investigations in Bukan region consisted of a

few surveys and excavation seasons. Naderi(Naderi, 2006)

had surveyed the Shahrikand area which is located around 20

kilometers southwest of Bukan. He testified stone tools

belonging to Lower Paleolithic Age at this area. Swiny

investigated the BeygOwbasi in the south of Bukan city. The

straw-tempered wares, Haji Firuz wares type, belonging to

the Neolithic Age had been documented by him (Swiny,

Paper ID: SUB156260 71





1975). He also discovered the Bronze Age painted bichrome

and monochrome potsherds in the Bukan and Mahabad area.

The soundings were directed by Solecki in the Chuldbhd

caves between Bukan and Miandoab(Solecki, 1969). Dalma

and Pisdeli wares belonging to the Chalcolithic Age had

been documented by Karami(Karami, 2006) at Qaragoiz,

around 20 kilometers southwest of Bukan in 2004. Omrani,

Shahidi, and Abedi (2012)introduced one Chalcolithic Age

site at Sari Ghamish, and four Bronze Age sites at Tape

Nachit, ToptQale, BeyObasi and QareKand in the Bukan

region (Figure 2).

Figure 2: Map of Bukan city and the ancient sites

The salvage archaeological excavation was conducted by E.

Yaghmaee at Qalaichi in 1985. He exposed numerous glazed

bricks and a stele with 13-line Aramaic inscription

(Hassanzadeh, 2006). Qalaichi is a Mannean site located in

the vicinity of Qalaichi village about 8 kilometers northeast

of Bukan which dated back to about 800-600 B.C., the Iron

Age III. At this site, the excavations were continued by

BahmanKargar from 1999 to 2006. During these years, he

uncovered an architectural complex (Mollazadeh, 2008).

4. Description of the Site

Ali Abad Tape is a prehistoric site located at a district in the

northern part of Bukan city known with the same name.

Bukan is a city in the West Azerbaijan Province, in the

North-West of Iran. The site is more than 3 ha (ha is an

abbreviation for Hectare). In extent and it is covered by

modern buildings. Ali Abad Tape is located at about 1

kilometer east of Simineh-Rud (Figure 1). Residents of this

area dug earth in search of fresh water in recent years. They

brought out potsherds during the digging at the diverse

depths. It occurred in different places on this mound.

Corresponding author of this paper collected the sherds and

initiated the analysis and typology of them. The most of

sherds were paralleled to those that had been uncovered by

Charles Burney at Yanik Tape in eastern side of Lake Urmia,

northwestern Iran in 1960. Following that time, the culture

having these types of ceramics was coined “Yanik Culture”

by Dyson in the archaeological literature of Iran.

5. Method of the Study

During the stratigraphic excavation at Ali Abad Tape, 68

cultural contexts were uncovered. Natural soil appeared at

the depth of 11.40 centimeters. A total of nine architectural

phases were excavated at different depths at Ali Abad Tape.

These phases consisted of stone walls, mud-brick walls and

floors. Every structure got a registry number and was

documented in the Registry Sheet. In addition, each

construction plan was drown manually at the same time

which has been done by computer software later. The

description of any uncovered structure is discussed in detail

at this study.

6. The Chronology of the Site

Unfortunately, the C14 dating has not been done for the

collected samples of Ali Abad Tape due to lake of financial

support. The relative chronology was done based on

collected sherds from wells. Three types of pottery were

recognized as grey and black burnished; red or orange and

buff wares. The first type, grey and black burnished, were

comparable to the Early Bronze Age pottery of eastern

Anatolia (C. A. Burney, 1958); level 4B of Yanik Tape in the

eastern side of Lake Urmia, northwestern Iran (C. A Burney,

1961); pottery of Haftava VIII, northwestern Iran (Geoffrey

Denis Summers, 1982); Kul Tape IV, northwestern Iran

(Abedi et al., 2014); Gourab Tape, west of Iran (Khaksar,

Hemati Azandaryani, & Nourozi, 2015) and Tape Pissa, west

of Iran (Mohammadifar, Motarjem, & Niknami, 2011).

The red and orange wares belonged to the Middle and Late

Bronze Age known as Urmia Ware in the northwest of Iran.

This group was parallel to the pottery of Haftavan VIB

(Edwards, 1981); Godin III (Henrickson, 1986); Gol Tape

(Tala'i, 1984) and Kul Tape III (Abedi et al., 2014). The third

group, buff wares, also related to the Middle and Late

Bronze Age. The same ceramics have been identified at

Bukan and Mahabad area (Swiny, 1975); the pottery of Gol

Tape (Tala'i, 1984); Kul Tape III (Abedi et al., 2014) and

Haftavan VIB (Edwards, 1981). Therefore, according to the

relative chronology, Ali Abad site had been occupied from

Early Bronze Age to Late Bronze Age (3200 – 1200 B.C.).

7. Architectural Phase

7.1 Phase I

Context 1003: This architectural phase was located at the

depth of -60 cm to -109 cm from the bench mark. The

structure consisted of a stone wall, made of irregular and

different sizes of stones as well as clay mortar. It looked like

a foundation for a contemporary building. The structure was

situated throughout the northern side of trench that continued

from both northern and eastern sides. The wall was not

exposed completely due to excavation limitation.

Dimensions of this construction were included of 3.5 meters

long, 50 cm wide and 50 cm high (Figure 3).

Context 1004: This context was parallel to the context 1003

and it comprised some fallen stones in different sizes looking

like a modern-day building stones. The foundation was not






seen for this stones. It seemed as fragments of a fallen wall.

This assembly was placed in the southern part of the trench

at the depth of -90 cm. The dimensions were 130 cm long, 50

cm wide and 35 cm high (Figure 3).

Figure 3: Phase I: Contexts 1003 and 1004

7.2 Phase II

Context 1009: This context consisted of a floor with

different compact layers. A big stone appeared at the western

corner of the context. It mostly looked like a base for holding

a pole. In addition, fragments of ash and burnt ground were

seen on this floor. This structure was located at depth of -130

cm from the bench mark and dimensions included 154 cm

long and 130 cm wide.

7.3 Phase III

Context 1012: The structure was seen at the depth of -155

cm to -175 cm from the bench mark. It was a wall

constructed with different irregular stones and clay mortar.

The directions of wall were toward northern side from the

center of trench on the one hand and to eastern side of the

trench on the other hand. It had a chamfered corner in the

center. Dimensions included 160 cm length from the center

to northern side and 130 cm towards eastern side. The width

of this structure consisted of 45 centimeters (Figure 4).

Context 1013: This context was located at the depth of -136

cm to -180 cm and connected to context 1012. It consisted of

some different sizes of stones in the southeastern corner of

the trench. The dimensions measured 70 cm at length and 35

cm at width (Figure 4).

Figure 4: Phase III: Contexts 1012 and 1013

7.4 Phase IV

Context 1031: This structure was situated at the depth of -

350cm to -406 cm from bench mark. This level consisted of

two rows of irregular stones in different sizes (Figure 5). At a

glance, it seemed as a collapse which covered whole of the

trench and continued in the four sides. It was assumed that

this structure was related to context 1034 and both of them

were considered as one phase.

Figure 5: Phase IV: Context 1031

Context 1034: This context consisted of a wall located in

southern part of trench at the depth of -411 cm (Figure 6). It

was constructed with irregular stones and clay mortar. The

wall dimensions were 187 cm at length, 50 cm at width and

41cm at height with its northwest-southeast direction. Plaster

was seen on one side of the wall that seemed as the inner

side of a building. A floor related to this structure revealed

alongside of the wall and at the northern side of that. The

floor consisted of several stages of compressed argil, lime

and ochre surfaces.

Figure 6: Phase IV: Context 1034

7.5 Phase V

Context 1042: This context was located in the southeast

corner of the trench at the depth of -562 cm. Its compressed

surface consisted of several layers of hard-pressed soil and

small stones along with a slab. This context seemed as part

of the floor.






7.6 Phase VI

Context 1044: This structure included three rows of east-

west direction and four rows of north-south direction of

mud-bricks. It was found at the depth of -580 cm. The

dimensions of mud-bricks were 45×25×10 cm. About one

meter width of this assembly appeared in the trench and it

continued from three sides. Accordingly, that can be

considered as a mud-brick bench or a paved ground. Another

assumption about this structure was based on a wide mud-

brick wall. It is difficult to remark definite viewpoint about

its location due to space limitations and it needs further

investigations.

7.7 Phase VII

Context 1054: This architectural phase consisted of a mud-

brick wall located at the depth of -660 cm with its north-

south direction. The structure shape seemed as reversed “L”.

Dimensions of the wall were 135 cm long at the western side

and 100 cm longat the eastern side. Its width was different

between 25 cm in the southern portion and 50 cm at northern

part. The wall had been plastered from both sides which

seemed it had been an internal divider wall of a building

(Figure 7).

Figure 7: Phase VII: Context 1054

7.8 Phase VIII

Context 1062: The structure consisted of a wall constructed

by mud-brick which was located at the depth of -860 cm.

The direction of this wall started from the eastern side of the

trench to the western side. From there, it continued to

northern side. Dimensions of the structure included 158 cm

of length in the southern side, 127 cm of length from the

northern side and 58 cm of width. In addition to this, the

dimensions of mud-bricks were 35 × 23×10cm (Figure 8).

7.9 Phase IX

Context 1068: The last architectural phase was located over

natural soil at the depth of -11 meters and 40 centimeters

from the bench mark. This structure consisted of a row of

small stones in north-to-south direction. Alongside of these

stones a layer of burnt surface with ash deposit was seen. At

a glance, this assembly is the evidence of settlement

activities by the first residents of Ali Abad Tape (Figure 9).

Figure 8: Phase VIII: Context 1062

Figure 9: Phase IX: Context 1068

8. Conclusion

According to collected potsherds from wells and comparison

of them with other excavated sites of North-West of Iran as

well as southeastern of Anatolia, the settlements of

prehistoric site of Ali Abad have been occurred from late of

fourth to first millennium B.C. The main settlements have

been identified as that of Bronze Age period. The

architecture of Early Bronze Age was characterized as

circular mud-brick houses with internal elements such as

kitchen ranges and portable or fixed hearths. These were

often in anthropomorphic or zoomorphic forms in the

northwest of Iran, southern Caucasus, southeastern Anatolia

and Levant regions. It is known as a character of Kura-

Araxes culture. In the next period, the circular houses plan

changed to rectangular and straight-lined buildings.

During the stratigraphic excavation at Ali Abad site, nine

architectural phases have been excavated at different

contexts and various depths. On the whole, the materials had

been used through the earliest settlements to last occupation

consisted of stone, mud-brick and clay mortar. As mentioned

above, the plan of Early Bronze Age was circular, but it did

not apply to the Ali Abad site. In other words, the straight-

lined plan had appeared in the Early Bronze Age period at

this site. However, the categorical statement about this needs

further investigation and largo-scale excavation at this site.






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Architectural Phases of Ali Abad Tape, Northwestern Iran · 2020. 4. 1. · excavation. Various objects had been revealed including potsherds, animal bones, lithic tools, animal figurines